


Snow Level

by CalmCappuccino



Category: HLVRAI - Fandom, Half-Life VR But The AI Is Self Aware
Genre: Domestic, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, M/M, Post-Canon, Sleepy Cuddles, Snow, Snow Day, Snowball Fight
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-18
Updated: 2021-02-18
Packaged: 2021-03-13 19:22:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,952
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29531223
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CalmCappuccino/pseuds/CalmCappuccino
Summary: Benrey sees snow for the first time and falls in love (almost as much as he did when he first saw Gordon). Gordon is dragged out of his warm home for Benrey's snow day. Fluff ensues.
Relationships: Benrey/Gordon Freeman, Bubby/Dr. Coomer (Half-Life)
Comments: 14
Kudos: 76





	Snow Level

Gordon tiredly reached across his bed for cuddles, instead finding an empty groove in the sheets where his boyfriend would typically lay. Now opening his eyes, he groaned as he was shoved into the waking world. “Where the fuck..?” he huffed and rolled onto his back, glancing around the room in an effort to find Benrey. Of course, on one of the coldest mornings of the winter so far, he would be gone without a trace when Gordon wanted to steal his warmth. Oh well, no cuddles for him.

He groaned again as he sat up, attaching his prosthetic arm and throwing a sweater to warm him up in the absence of his partner. Once he was dressed appropriately, he pulled himself out of bed and made his way out to the living room in hopes of locating his idiot. Knowing him, he was probably just sitting on the couch playing Heavenly Sword again. He had gotten it for Benrey along with a Playstation Plus membership about a month ago and he had regretted it nearly every day, since it was now practically all he did (when he wasn’t curled up in Gordon’s arms, of course). He smiled softly to himself at the thought. Whatever, he still loved him. Even if he was an annoying gamer.

He headed to the kitchen to make himself a cup of coffee, humming softly as he placed the mug under the machine. From the other room, he heard Benrey calling for him. “Gordonnnnn.” He elected to ignore his boyfriend in favor of coffee, as you do when you know damn well he only wants to flex a cool gameplay mechanic he learned or something similar. However, this plan failed as Benrey persisted. “GordonGordonGordonGor-”

“Whaaaat?” Gordon called out, cutting him off. He pulled the now full mug out from under the machine, electing to skip adding sugar or cream in favor of seeing what Benrey just had to show him. He scratched his beard, fixing his hair and taking a sip of his drink before stepping into the living room. There, he was a bit surprised to find the TV entirely off and Benrey sitting on the floor, face pressed against the window. He didn't even turn to face Gordon when he entered the room, instead talking while looking the other direction. 

“Gordonnn. Gords. Gordo. Mr Feetman. Gor-”

“I am right here.”

There was a slight pause.

“...it’s snowing.”

Gordon gave Benrey a look. It was too early for this, and he wasn’t even down one cup of coffee yet. He sighed softly, just taking a sip out of his cup and looking down at Benrey.

“...and?”

Benrey looked up at him, faking an overdramatic shocked face. He attempted to look as offended as he could.

“And? AND?? Gordon ‘Middle Initial’ Freeman, what the fuck do you mean ‘and’??? It is SNOWING. In REAL LIFE. It’s like… it’s like Skyrim. But real. 10/10 IGN. 5 stars on-”

“Benrey, it snows every year. Have- have you never seen snow??”

There was a long silence as Benrey attempted to think of a good response. What he landed on was a quiet “...no.”

Gordon took a long pause, sighing softly and taking a long few sips of his coffee. He didn’t exactly want to go out in the snow and get all gross and wet and cold- but it was Benrey’s first time seeing snow, so…

He sighed softly. “You wanna go... play in it or something?”

The spark in Benrey’s eyes as he jumped up, nearly knocking Gordon over as he jumped up and put his hands on the taller man’s shoulders. “Canwecanwecanwecanwe CAN WE???” 

Gordon stumbled back, catching himself before Benrey could send him directly to the floor. He instinctively placed his prosthetic hand on Benrey’s back in an effort to not fall, chuckling softly and letting him go. “Yeah, sure. I can’t believe you’ve never seen snow.” He was so surprised about that fact, despite the fact that it really should’ve been a given. After all, Benrey had only been out of Black Mesa and living with Gordon for about half a year now, and it hadn’t snowed during that time. Still, it caught him off guard to hear. “C’mon you dummy, let’s go get dressed and shit first.”

Benrey didn’t reply, instead just following Gordon happily while clinging onto his prosthetic arm as the taller male used his real one to finish off his coffee, setting it in the kitchen on the way back to their room. The entire way there, yellow bright bubbles of the Black Mesa Sweet Voice filled the room. He only let go to sit on the bed and watch as Gordon dug through his dresser to find some weather-appropriate clothing for the two of them.

He tossed Benrey a blue hoodie and some old jeans, those being the warmest things he had in his short boyfriend’s size. While Benrey put that on, he put on some black sweatpants and a poofy jacket over the sweater he was already wearing. Benrey could experience the cold all he wanted, Gordon was not in the market to do the same. He found the two of them each a pair of gloves (though Gordon really only needed one glove, he wanted to keep the finer working bits of his prosthetic safe from the wet snow) and snow boots from his closet. He was tempted to offer Benrey a tiny pair of his son Joshua’s boots and tell him to make it work, but instead he gave him a pair of his. They looked a bit silly still, being a few sizes too big for him. He threw on a black beanie and an orange scarf, giving Benrey a blue scarf to take with.

The whole time he was finding them clothes, Benrey was bugging him to hurry up. As tempting as it was to tell the other to fuck off and just go outside by himself if he was so desperate to, he kept the thought to himself and insisted that Benrey wait. It was mostly for his safety, but he wouldn’t deny that the idea of seeing Benrey all happy over snow was a cute one. When Gordon finally gave Benrey the okay, he jumped up and ran down the hall. Gordon internally sighed, chasing after him.

Benrey threw open the door, continuing to run outside at full speed. Gordon followed him quickly, grabbing him as he instantly started to slip and almost fall before the pair had even escaped the front patio. “Yoo, what the fuck?” Benrey complained, “It’s all… fuckin… slippery and shit.”

Gordon chuckled at that, shaking his head as he helped Benrey stand up straight again. “Yeah, it does that. Like… like an ice level in a video game, right?”

Benrey thought on the other’s statement for a moment before nodding. “Yeah, makes sense. Those levels always suck though- this…” he gestured to the snow covering the front lawn, “this is too epic to be an ice level. This is fucking poggers!”

“Heh… Pog.” Gordon replied, more focused on the way Benrey’s face lit up and the happy tone of his voice than on what the other was really saying. Was he just being gay? Yeah, definitely. But in his defense, his boyfriend was being really, really cute. 

“Poggers!” Benrey cheered, continuing to run in the snow the second Gordon let him go. Gordon cringed a bit as he slid and almost fell, but let out a breath that he didn’t realize he had been holding when he caught himself. As Benrey continued to just run around in the yard like a little kid, Gordon sat down on the edge of the patio and watched. He found himself zoning out, just thinking about Benrey and all the fun, cutesy winter shit they could do. They could go sledding together, maybe build a gingerbread house…

He was thrown off his train of thought when he felt a cold ball of snow hit his face. His eyes widened a bit, just letting the snowball slide down his face as he processed what had happened. “Haha, Gotcha bitch!” Benrey called out. This made Gordon grin and stand, already rolling up a far better snowball than the one that had been thrown his way.

“Oh yeah? Bet!” And with that, he tossed the snowball across the yard at Benrey. It hit him square in the chest, making him stumble back a tiny bit.

“Oh, you’re ON!” 

The pair spent the next 12 or so minutes just throwing snowballs back and forth, laughing happily as they did so. The fight ended with Gordon lunging at Benrey, sending the pair of laughing idiots rolling around in the snow. This left Gordon’s exposed hair covered in snow, but he did not care. Benrey’s laugh and smile made up for it- plus, he was actually having some fun here. Maybe he was getting into the winter spirit after all. 

Slowly, the laughter died down and left the two of them just holding each other in the middle of the snow-covered lawn. To any onlooking neighbors, the two grown men surely looked crazy, but the two were really just having fun.

Suddenly, Benrey shot up. “Gordon! Question!”

Gordon looked up from his place in the snow, not bothering to sit up yet. “Mhm? What’s up?”

“How do you make a snow angel?”

“Huh?”

“A snow angel! Like, the ones on the ground. In movies! In games, like-“

Gordon cut him off with laughter. “Benrey, hon, I know what a snow angel is.”

Benrey felt his face heat up a bit in embarrassment, but he shook it off. “Then show me how to make them, Mr… Gordon Meanman.”

“Yeah, yeah,” the taller huffed as he stood, taking Benrey’s hand in his own and walking with him to a good spot with fresh snow. “It’s pretty easy, actually. You just gotta lie in the snow-“ he let go of Benrey’s hand, letting himself fall back into the snow with his arms out, “and move your arms and legs, like this-“ he moved his limbs in the snow, making a snow angel on the ground.

Benrey nodded as if he had been talking notes, lying down next to Gordon and doing the same thing. When Gordon got up, so did he, and the two looked at their work.

“What?? No fair, why’s mine shorter than yours?”

“Because you’re shorter than me..?”

“What? Sounds like a scam. Fuck you.” 

Gordon gave a lighthearted sigh and shook his head, looking down at the other. “Whatever, man,” he chuckled as he moved to sit back on the porch. He made an effort to shake the snow off of his jacket and comb some of his hair, but he had succumbed to the snow as soon as Benrey got him to lay in it. He had already accepted his fate. He looked back over at his boyfriend, who was now running around like an idiot in the fresh snow. He looked back at the trail of footprints that crossed his lawn, looking back in Benrey’s direction to now find him only a few inches from his face. Of course, he jumped a bit. 

Benrey only grinned obnoxiously as he jumpscared his boyfriend, laughing happily. “Gordon.”

Gordon sighed a bit and sat up better, brushing himself off again. “What?” 

“Can we make a snowman?”

“...you can make a snowman.”

“But can we make a snowman? I… uh… I don't know how.”

Gordon chuckled at that, tilting his head a bit at the other’s statement. “You… don’t know how… to make a snowman?” He stifled a laugh as he said that. “Is it not self-explanatory?”

Benrey blinked and tilted his head a bit. “Huh? What-? No?” he quickly shook his head. “Just- fuckin- help me bitch.”

“Okay, okay, god-” Gordon huffed in annoyance as he stood up again, having just gotten comfortable sitting on the porch. He shouldn’t have expected any better from Benrey, to be fair. He loved his boyfriend, but he was a pain in the ass at times. (And by “at times”, he meant “always”.)

“All you gotta do is get a snowball-” He hummed as he gathered a ball of snow from the ground, “-and roll it in the snow, so it gets big. Like this-” he calmly rolled the ball down the snow-covered path, watching it quickly grow in size. Once it was about a foot tall and just as wide, he looked back at Benrey. “There, that can be the bottom bit. Now you try it.”

“yooooooo - how the fuck-” Benrey knitted his eyebrows, making a slightly lopsided snowball in his hand and looking at Gordon with disbelief. “Sounds fake, but okay. Go off I guess. Pop off king,” He was, as usual, just saying words. He looked at Gordon for approval, who just nodded calmly. He nodded back, then rolled the ball of snow down the snowy path. It slowly gained mass as he rolled it back and forth, but not as fast as Gordon’s. Not at all. He decided, as he finished rolling up the snowball, that Gordon was, in fact, hacking. It was the only sensible answer.  
Gordon looked back at Benrey as he finished rolling up the snowball, a smile slowly forming on his face as he just watched his boyfriend act like an idiot trying to roll up the snowball. He found it cute. “Alright, then you just stack ‘em up. Easy,” He said, looking at Benrey expectantly. When Benrey didn’t do anything, he sighed a bit. “...Like this,” he said, picking up the lopsided snowball benrey had made and stacking it on top of his straighter one. “Now, just… do it again.” 

Benrey nodded, starting to roll up another snowball. As he did this, he looked up to see Gordon walking past him into the house. He didn’t bother to ask, just continuing to stay focused on making the top bit as smooth as possible. As he finished, carefully lifting the ball of snow and setting it on top of the others, Gordon returned with a stick and a few lumps of coal.

“We don’t have any carrots- well, we do, but i'm not wasting them on this-” as he spoke, he gave Benrey some of the coal. The two of them got to work decorating the snowman. They both kept bright smiles on their faces, looking like little kids. Gordon hadn’t realized how much he was smiling until he and Benrey made eye contact and Benrey started to grin more.

“You’re happyyyyyyy”

“Well, yeah?”

“You’re smiiiiiiliiiiingggggg”

“...yeah?” 

Gordon shook his head a bit and laughed at Benrey’s childish teasing. “Fucking dumbass,” he said with a lighthearted sigh. The two of them stepped back to admire their hard work.

“wAIT, I KNOW-” Benrey yelled, running inside before Gordon could even ask what he was yelling about. He returned with his guard helmet from Black Mesa, shoving it on the snowman’s head. Gordon laughed a bit at that as Benrey gave a proud smile. 

Gordon took his phone, stealing a quick picture of Benrey looking happy with his snowman before quickly hiding it away in hopes of him not noticing the picture was taken. He knew that if Benrey realized he had taken the picture, he would probably fight him to delete it. 

Luckily for Gordon, his cute picture of his boyfriend was safe. Gordon looked back at him after a minute, shivering a bit. “...it’s cold.”

Gordon blinked a bit in disbelief. “You just realized that..?”

“Yes! Well, no… but yes. It’s cold. Did we finish the snow level? I wanna go inside.”

Gordon stifled a laugh once more, exhaling and shaking his head a bit. “Yeah, hon. We beat the snow level. The next level is an indoors one.”

“Oh thank god,” Benrey laughed, “I never really liked ice levels.”

Gordon, once again, was left standing there in disbelief. “But- earlier- you said-”

“Whatever, man. Let’s go inside,” Benrey said, cutting him off. He grabbed Gordon’s hand and dragged him inside, smiling to himself.

\---------

Only a few moments had passed since Gordon and Benrey were outside, laughing and making their snowman and such. Now, Benrey sat by the fire with his hands out. The sound of rustling could be heard from the kitchen, Gordon emerging moments later with two cups of hot cocoa. “One for you-” Gordon gave the blue mug to Benrey. It was brandished with a Black Mesa logo, full of cocoa and whipped cream on the inside. There was even cocoa powder sprinkled on top, for extra flare. “-and one for me,” he finished, sitting next to his boyfriend in front of the fireplace. His drink was the same, but in an orange mug.

As the pair sipped at their drinks and talked about whatever was on their minds, Gordon heard his phone buzz in his back pocket. He opened it to see who was messaging him, and smiled as he saw that it was from Dr. Coomer.

The message read “Look, Gordon, Snow!” with an attached photo of him and Bubby on a walk, followed by “You should take Benrey out to see it! I’m sure he’d love it!”

“One step ahead of you” Gordon texted back, attaching the photo he had taken of Benrey with his snowman.

Gordon set his phone aside, glancing down at Benrey. Benrey smiled and leaned his head on Gordon’s shoulder, taking a sip of his drink and closing his eyes.

“I love you,” The shorter male said tiredly, seemingly exhausted from being out in the snow.

Gordon smiled softly, resting his head on Benrey’s and closing his eyes as well. “I love you, too.”

**Author's Note:**

> Yellow like lightning means it's exciting!
> 
> This is my first HLVRAI fic, so I hope you guys like it! ^^  
> We got a fuck ton of snow for the first time, like, ever down in Texas, and I was inspired to write a fluffy snow day fic. I hope it gives someone out there the serotonin.


End file.
